Written by

Ed

PEACO

Kevin Wallace plays harmonica with Tas Cru in the background.

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The Blues Society of the Ozarks is looking for musicians to visit classrooms for the Blues in the Schools program. Interested? E-mail bsobits@gmail.com.

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In the music room at Pleasant View Middle School, a blues band waited as students poured into the large room.

A guy with a wispy beard and long hair, wearing a hat, was holding a guitar. A drummer and a bass player were getting ready. Then they launched into a lively shuffle.

From the first note, eyes and ears locked in on the players and the music. After the first tune, the room was buzzing.

New York-based blues artist Tas Cru and his band visited several Pleasant View music classes in January as part of the Blues in the Schools program of the Blues Society of the Ozarks.

Midway through the session, Cru brought out his cigar box guitar, which he’d received as a gift from a fan. It had a small, boxy body studded with brightly colored decorations. Various ornaments dangled from the body and the neck.

“Why did you bedazzle it?” a girl asked.

“Because I have a daughter who had a bedazzler,” Cru said, smiling. “And another thing: In the blues, there’s the idea that you can make music without having a fancy kind of instrument.”

The homemade guitar was not fancy, but the decorations get people’s attention: “It sends kind of a jolt to people looking at it. Like, what’s that all about?”

The students listened and sang, heard blues stories and participated in percussion jams. For one song, Cru asked music teacher Carla Wootton to join in on piano. He called out a key, and away they went.

By the end of the class period, the kids were jumping up and down and hollering.

The program

The Blues Society brings a band into a classroom occasionally, whenever musicians and funding are available, said Kendra Wallace, co-chair of the local Blues in the Schools program, also known as BITS.

Cru, who makes blues education part of his musical mission, contacted the Springfield society to inquire about school appearances in connection with a tour stop in Tulsa, Okla., Wallace said.

In recent years, the society has booked several artists into BITS sessions, usually in conjunction with their appearances at the annual blues festival.

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The Springfield BITS program also administers an annual eight-week harmonica program for boys living in the three local cottages of the Missouri Division of Youth Services.

Each year, 12 boys are chosen for the program in which they learn to play the instrument, write a song and present a concert for peers, family and Blues Society members, Wallace said.

In an interview after a morning of music assemblies, Cru spoke of the importance of the blues as uniquely American music with connections to many other popular forms.

He pointed to the stunning classroom response as proof that young people enjoy blues music when they are exposed to it.

“Realistically, it sparks a curiosity in kids that they may not explore today but may come back to at some point as they grow older,” he said.

Value beyond classroom

The value of the sessions extends beyond music, he said, for instance, “seeing their teachers participate and play music in areas that they were not comfortable with, that it’s OK to take risks.”

Two students who are learning to play instruments each said they were aware of the blues through family ties. Sixth-graders Kevin Wallace and Max Peters both said their grandparents enjoy the blues.

Max said he studies trumpet, listens to classic rock and hip-hop, and wants to form his own band. Kevin, who plays harmonica, has strong family roots in the blues: His grandmother is Kendra Wallace.

Music teacher Stephanie Hogsett said the BITS program fits into the music curriculum by introducing historical and cultural themes. She polled the students before the event and found little awareness of the blues, but a post-event poll found that the majority of students said they enjoyed the music.

“They just could not stop talking about it,” she said.

“A lot of them didn’t realize what it was. Now they say, ‘Blues is really cool.’ ”